Dropping the glass cup onto the table, Edward let his shoulders loosen and allowed his body to relax, if only slightly. Sara had finally come down the stairs, and she had already met the Fourth Royal Prince.
The couple-to-be had been led toward the podium, and the exchange of gifts had begun in the careful, practiced manner of noble ceremonies. After that, the engagement would properly commence, and Sara would be announced, without any room for doubt, as the Fourth Royal Prince's fiancée.
But none of that truly bothered Edward. Just like in his recent regressions, this engagement would mean nothing in the end, because it would not survive the storm that was coming. Once he took the Marquis title from his father, titles like fiancée and prince would become little more than decoration, words people used to pretend the world was still orderly.
